So is this the most beautiful mood board ever created? Well, no, but I think that it will give you (and my husband) a good idea of what I’m scheming for our guest bathroom. I’m hoping to create a balance between traditional and modern by using timeless finishes mixed with modern metals and lines.

Now that I’m working in real estate, I’ve found that I tend to focus more on balancing design with cost and general appeal. I’m still planning on designing to my our taste but I’m far more hesitant now to pull the trigger on something that’s fairly trendy if it’s on the expensive side or if it’s hard to remove. While some might say that white subway tile is tired, I think that it’s so classic that it’ll never truly be out. Marble and hex shaped penny tiles are also fairly timeless so marrying both styles together for the flooring made total sense. The current bathroom hasn’t been really changed in almost 50 years so I’m hoping that the subway and marble tiles will last another 50 years.

One of the main things that I love about mood boards is that you get to see all your ideas together in one place, hopefully in a cohesive design. While I do like most of the finishes, I’m not quite sure about the mirror and the the paint color. The mirror is simple, but I think that it might be a little too simple and a little too traditional. The paint color is a deep beauty that mostly reminds me of beautiful deep jewel tones, but also kind of reminds me of the 80’s color palettes which doesn’t make me feel joyous.

So while I don’t normally love having semi-finished designs floating about, I’m hoping that one or two of you might chime in and let me know what you’re thinking. Anything you love or hate or would absolutely change?

I know that I’ve been a little MIA lately, but life has been busy around these parts lately and my other project has kept me glued to my computer. Besides working on Covered Style, I’ve also been having fun helping a friend with her house remodel. She has beautiful taste and her house is going to be gorgeous. I honestly can’t wait to show you all of the rooms that we’re designed and put together. Enter the chic femme bedroom and a whole house full of gorgeous rooms!

Unfortunately, the house is still very much under construction, like the flooring and cabinets aren’t installed yet, so I thought that I’d post some of the moodboards that I put together. My client wanted her bedroom to be modern, yet feminine so we’re balancing the crisp clean feel of the black and white look while still keeping it soft, light, and chic.

As a warning, this is not some gorgeous moodboard where everything is completely in place and proportionally correct- it’s just a general feel of the room. I promise that once we get everything set up and styled, I will post

This is the time of the season when I always feel like I have too much stuff and while that’s probably at least a little true, part of it has to be that I don’t own any Christmas organizational storage containers. I always thought that they were for fancy people who didn’t have enough other things to buy but honestly, with each year, those boxes look better and better.

Our tree is not some gorgeous designer, pinterest-worthy tree. We fill our tree with ornaments from our life and travel and while they aren’t all antique, handmade, glass blown, bajillion dollar ornaments, they’re priceless to me because they represent us. While the world would certainly not end if one of them broke, it’s not like I can just pop over to Paris anytime I wish to replace it (although wouldn’t that be lovely!). And really, the boxes aren’t that bad if you know where to look. Check out this one from Target.

It’s in-store only (sorry guys) but it’s less than $10 and holds 64 ornaments. What’s also nice is that seeing your ornaments is now so much easier. No more digging through boxes and unwrapping paper for 15 minutes trying to find that one ball or another.

For all of you who don’t want to leave your house, this option is $5 off right now and has great reviews. It hold the balls a little bit more snuggly and let’s face it, the bag looks pretty and these can be easily stacked.

This last deal that I’ve found is this brass basket that is just north of $20 and would be perfect for beautifully holding all of those throws and blankets you’re surely going to need now that the weather is cold. Just roll up each blanket tightly and it becomes a beautiful and convenient way to add texture and interest into your room.

So wish me well as I desperately try to get myself off the couch and back to cleaning the house and clearing up decor.

I have always loved rooms that have a black and white theme with just a hint of an accent color. Back in high school (over a decade ago :/) I loved black and white paired with red but over the past several years I’ve really fallen for rooms that combine the dramatic pair with metallics, especially gold. The red was beautiful but it can scream “look at me” when you’re wanting the black and white to really take center stage. I’ve included a couple black and white rooms that I’ve loved for awhile to show how the same theme can look very different depending on style and space.

While I would love to have a living or dining room become a monochromatic paradise, I’m not sure how well it would work with the flow of our new house and most of pieces I already have and love. So I’m working on creating that black and white space in the new guest room. I’ve been looking for a few pieces to add and thought that I’d share some of my favorite finds.

While I’m still finding my bearings in the new place and trying to begin the process of unpacking, I thought I’d jump online and chat about two things I love: Dogs and Decor. I’m mildly obsessed with my pup (and pretty much all dogs) and I’ve always loved the idea of having a few canine related pieces in my home. Usually when I (and most people) think of dog art and decor, I think of cheesy posters with sayings like “Wipe yer paws” or “Dog lives here” or something like that. But since moving into the new place, I see all of this empty wall space that’s screaming for some beautiful art or shelving that could use some pretty styling pieces and I’ve thought that I could definitely stand to have more canine inspiration. There’s actually a lot of pretty stuff out there if you know where to look. So I thought I’d share with you all some of my favorite finds.

So we’re pretty much in agreement at this point that dog decor can be pretty, modern, or even very sophisticated, right? I think that I need that first watercolor sketch for my office (which you can find here, by the way). So, am I crazy for wanting some more canine inspiration? Are you a dog person as well, or do you prefer feline friends?

We’re back talking about the house today and more specifically, the lighting. There are so many awesome vintage touches to this house and we fell in love with so much of it. But not everything in it was exactly our taste. To be honest, some of the fixtures took you back in time to when men and women wore bell bottoms and “groovy!” was an acceptable response to anything. While I love so many things about the 70’s (hello, flares are flattering on every woman), the lighting from that time period is not my fav. But I believe in starting with the positive, so here’s the good:

This beauty is in the entry and we couldn’t love her more! We have 4 other fixtures like this one and we’re thrilled that they came with the house. You can see it’s missing a few crystals, but c’mon, she’s 50 years old. We’ll give her a break since we think she looks fab for her age and just find matching crystals at a local antique place. Easy peasy.

Now on to the the bad ones. Guys, I want to not hate them but I do. Take a look and you’ll understand. If not, come buy them from me- I’ll give you a deal.

Ah, that 70’s brass. We have two of these bad boys in our house; they’re both within 5 feet of each other upstairs, and every time I see them “Stayin’ Alive” starts playing in my head. I like that song, but I really don’t want to have it mentally on repeat every time I leave my bedroom. So I’m thinking about replacing it with something that flows better with the lighting in the house that we actually like. Like this one:

Isn’t she gorgeous? And the crazy thing is that she is less than $130 at Overstock. Not everything from there is a winner in my book but this little number has a 4 star rating. All of those factors together means that it needs to come and live at my house. (More Details on the fixture HERE.)

After showing you the last beauty from Overstock, it kind of makes my heart hurt to show you this last one. Welp, here it is:

Yes, this is in my home and yes, it still works. I imagine that at one point this was white, or antique white, or even just white-ish. Now it is straight up pee-yellow. This urine inspired fixture is in the living room and while I’d love to hang a beautiful crystal chandy in there, I have to face reality. And the reality is that I live smack dab in the middle of Texas where it’s hot most of the year. So instead of hanging something beautiful and breathtaking to replace this monstrosity (perhaps a bit hyperbolic) I need to replace it with something less offensive. Ceiling fans, especially white ones are not vogue and they probably shouldn’t ever be, but a girl needs some air flow during months when we consistently hit triple digits.

So this was the least offensive, least obtrusive-feeling, white fan I could find. It fits the criteria which is it needed to be short, not ridiculously ugly, and not yellow. It turns out that locating this fan was no easy task as most white ceiling fans are terrible. But let’s not dwell on that. Let’s relish in the fact that I found this one that will “get the job done” as my dad used to say. (Fixture HERE).

Now, it’s just down to ordering and installing in between millions of coats of paint. So, what do you think? Are you as horrified by the fan as I am? Do you love the 70’s fixtures (someone please say you want them) or hate them? Do you use ceiling fans or just sweat it out? Have I asked enough questions? On that note, have a great Friday!

I was putting together a flower arrangement the other day and thought I’d share with you my go-to foolproof design. The pictures are pretty self explanatory but I thought I’d write out some tips for each step for those of you who love lists like I do!

1. Collect your supplies and make sure to buy one bouquet “vase filler” and bouquet of the flower of your choice.

2. Cut the vase filler so that it will still be tall enough to hang over the sides quite a bit.

3. Arrange in a star pattern. I didn’t end up having that many individual stems but if you do, once you’re created the star pattern, go ahead and fill in the sides with more filler.

4. Take all the leaves off your flowers and cut them just a bit shorter than your filler.

5. Add your flowers in the middle of the arrangement- this doesn’t need to be overly complicated, just make sure that the center of the arrangement is filled and even.

6. Take your 5-minute arrangement and place it somewhere lovely!

I love how easy this arrangement is and it’s crazy versatile. You can create endless combinations with different filler, flowers, and vases. It’s easy and it take almost no thought which makes it perfect for me! Anyone else have a foolproof arrangement that they swear by? I’d love to hear your tips and tricks!

We’re closing on our new house in less than two weeks which means I should be packing up boxes, going through miscellaneous items, and all of the other boring moving stuff. But I’m not. I’m scouring the Internet for new furniture for our new digs and I don’t even feel bad about it. I like to think of it as “prepping” for new space. And the past few days I’ve been spending my “prep time” looking at gorgeous entries. Ours will be small but it doesn’t mean it can’t be interesting.

Since space is limited, I’ve pretty much decided on a lucite entry table to keep things visually clean while giving the space something solid to throw keys on. Look how pretty this one is:

Don’t you love how it defines the space without breaking it up all at the same time? Lucite is pretty much magic. Beautiful, beautiful magic. So in order to “prep” a little more (it’s always good to be prepared, right?), I thought that I’d make a mood board for how I see it styled in our new house.

I know, I know. Sunburst mirrors have been a thing for a really long time now. But I still get compliments on mine consistently so I thought I’d fess up to the internet. I made it- and for less than $10. So let’s get down to business because you know you want one too.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 Pack of skewers

1 Brass sewing ring

1 Can of gold spray paint

A glue gun with glue sticks

A pair of scissors

A piece of cardboard

A pen

Picture hanging hardware

1. Take your package of skewers and separate them into 4 groups of 24 which means you’ll only need 96 of your 100.

Group 1: Leave as-is

Group 2: Cut off 3 in

Group 3: Cut off 4 in

Group 4: Cut off 5 in

Now cut the piece of cardboard to the exact size of your mirror. Use the template below to draw in your guide lines.

Now you get to start gluing! Start with you longest skewers and glue them on the lines. Once you’re done with the first 24, then you’re ready to start filling in the rest. Take the next longest group (the -3 in group) and glue them on either side of the longest sticks. Take the -4 in group and do the same as about, gluing one on the outside of the of the -3 in group. Finally, take the -5 group and glue them on outside of each of the -4 in group.

Once you’re done gluing, let it sit for a few minutes before busting out your magic can of liquid gold your spray paint. Spray both the front and the back of the skewers, making sure that they’re completely covered. Let the paint cure for at least a few hours but preferably overnight before heading on with me to the next step.

Bust out that glue gun once again to glue the mirror on top of the skewers and then glue the sewing ring on top of the mirror to give it a more polished look. Once those guys are firmly stuck, carefully flip over the mirror and glue on some hanging hardware. And Voila! A cheap way to fill that empty wall!

There are quite a few tutorials about this out there but if you feel like you might need some extra instructions or step by step pictures, I’ve found that this site has the best instructions.

So are any of you headed out the door to pick the supplies? Any other projects you’re working on?